John Steinbeck’s 112th Birthday Celebrated With Google Doodle

Google is celebrating the works of author John Steinbeck with a doodle today, which would have been his 112th birthday. He died in 1968 at the age of 66 from heart disease and congestive heart failure.

Steinbeck is one of the most celebrated authors in American history, and his works are often required reading in schools.

Among Steinbeck’s most well-known works are Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row, The Pearl, East of Eden, The Winter of Our Discontent, and Travels with Charley: In Search of America. Other titles include Cup of Gold, The Pastures of Heaven, The Red Pony, To a God Unknown, Tortilla Flat, In Dubious Battle, The Long Valley, The Forgotten Village, Seas of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research, The Moon is Down, Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team, The Wayward Bus, A Russian Journal, Burning Bright, The Log from the Sea of Cortez, Sweet Thursday, The Short Reign of Pippin IV: A Fabrication, Once There Was A War, and America and Americans.

A number of these titles were turned into movies.

The doodle is accompanied by five pieces of artwork, each representing one of Steinbeck’s works:

Each year, the Steinbeck Festival is held at the National Steinbeck Center in his hometown of Salinas, California. This year, in early May, it will celebrate the 75th anniversary of The Grapes of Wrath.

“In 2014, the National Steinbeck Center will celebrate the 75th anniversary of The Grapes of Wrath by convening a national dialogue, seeking out the experiences of individual Americans today and bringing them into the light,” the Center says on its website. “Steinbeck told stories of the human capacity to overcome bleak circumstances. At the National Steinbeck Center, we work every day to continue this legacy and highlight the humanity in each of our stories.”

Steinbeck sits atop a rock in a new statue – The Cannery Row Monument – that was uncovered this week in Steinbeck Plaza in Monterey. His friend Ed Ricketts appears at the bottom.